Update 23 March 2012

Hi all.  We have now walked 125 miles and have reached Conques.  Last night was the first night that we spent with 3 other pilgrims in a very small chalet, it was very crowded, but will happen more often now that there are other pilgrims on the road.  Tonight we are staying in an abbey, and have even managed to find a washing machine!!  The views are amazing and the walking hard, but we are enjoying it all... Andrea

Update 20 March 2012

We have been going for nine days now. We are a little in front of our schedule and have completed over 100 miles. It has been a mixed time. We started with 4 days of sunshine, and the going was very tough - up and down mountains like nobody's business with the extra weight of our cold weather gear in our bags. Unfortunately this put extra strain on Andrea's back and last Wednesday she was in excrutiating pain. We have taken it slowly since to help her recover. She is on the mend slowly. After the tough mountain climbs we then had more to come - this time in snow and at 1100 to 1300 metres. One day when the snow was coming down and the next when we had to wade through it. And then Chelsea beat Leicester City.That is why today has been a short day to help us recover. We have now made it to Estaing. Only one more day of mountains to go, and then the terrain gets easier for a while. Dean.

Update 17 March 2012

We have now arrived at Aumont-aubrac and other than my back pain we are doing well.  We have started to meet other pilgrims en route which is creating a lovely community feeling, and people we meet along the way are very friendly.  Donations are great to see as we continue our quest of 1000 miles..

Update 16 March 2012

We have now nearly completed our first 50 miles and have arrived at Saint Albain du Limognes.  It has been a hard first 4 days, and now my back is hurting, but we are pressing on.  Please donate to help us through this. More updates soon.... Andrea

Update - 11 March 2012

We are currently in Gex, and tomorrow we will be travelling to Le-Puy-Ev-Velay by train for the first stage of our walk.  More updates soon...

Hello. We are Andrea Wright and Dean Pratt of Belvoir Lettings Nuneaton and Hinckley. Belvoir Nuneaton and Hinckley is launching on 8 March 2012, and to commemorate this event we are aiming to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support by walking the pilgrim route St James' Way, taking the 1,000 mile route from Le Puy-en-Velay in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

So what does our walk involve ? We will fly out to Geneva in Switzerland before making our way on public transport over to our starting point Le Puy-en-Velay. An immediate test for our very limited french language skills. Here we plan to get our pilgrim passport, or creanciale, for our journey. We get this stamped at places we pass through during our journey as evidence of where we have been along the way. Then we start our Chemin de Saint-Jacques (as it is called in France) with several days of almost continuously uphill walking through difficult terrain reaching over 1,100 metres height.

During the walk we will be carrying our equipment and clothes on our backs and staying in a variety of different types of accommodation wherever we can find it. We expect to spend most of our nights in basic hostals with dormitories and shared facilities - gites d'etape in France and refugios in Spain.

Around our halfway point we cross the Pyrenees into Spain, which we expect to be a monumental psychological milestone on our route and where we will reclassify the route as the Camino (the spanish word for The Way).

When we get to Santiago in the Galicia region of Spain we will collect our 'compestela' (a certificate verifying that we have completed the route) from the cathedral .

But why stop at 1,000 miles ? Our plan is to then continue another 50 miles west to Finisterre ('end of the world') on the Atlantic Coast, the western most point of Spain. From there we will walk to Muxia and back, a further 30 miles, before taking public transport back home to the UK.

All in all we expect our trip to take 3 months. We will keep you updated of our progress along The Way. We hope that it will encourage you to make a donation to MacMillan Cancer Support

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